The damper illustrated in FIG. 2 of JP-A HEI 7-98035 has heretofore been known as belonging in this class of dampers.
The conventional rotary damper, though not specifically illustrated herein, is provided with a housing that has a holding chamber. It is further provided with a rotor integral with a gear, which rotor is disposed rotatably in the holding chamber of the housing, and a braking sheet interposed between the bottom part of the holding chamber of the housing and the lower surface of the rotor. It is so constructed that it enables application of the braking force to the speed of opening the push-open ashtray by utilizing the frictional resistance generated between the rotor and the braking sheet due to the sliding rotation of the rotor on the braking sheet.
The conventional rotary damper is used to control the push-open ashtray as follows. The housing of the damper is fixed onto either an ashtray case or a frame serving to retain the ashtray case so that the ashtray case can emerge from and submerge under the frame. A rack is disposed on the remainder of the two components. The rack and the gear with which the rotor is integral are meshed with each other. Thereafter, the ashtray case is released from the locked state at the closing position thereof to enable the ashtray case to move in the opening direction by dint of the pressure energized with a spring. Consequently, it is made possible to set the rotor rotating in compliance with the motion of the ashtray case, and induce generation of the frictional resistance between the lower surface of the rotor and the braking sheet. As a result, the ashtray case can move slowly in the opening direction.
The conventional rotary damper, therefore, has the advantage of allowing simplification of construction because it is composed of three components. When the rotor integral with the gear is disposed within the holding chamber of the housing, however, it will readily incline and possibly impair the stability of the braking force while it is in the process of rotating and sliding on the braking sheet. This is because the posture of the rotor is retained by a flange disposed on the edge of an opening of the holding chamber.
This invention has been developed with the object of effectively solving such problems as are encountered by the conventional rotary damper.